Final COVID-19 restrictions lifted on Navajo Nation

The largest tribe in the southwest was one of the first to enact some of the strictest COVID-19 health mandates in the country, the new administration has quickly been lifting them

Navajo Nation President Buu Van Nygren was not coy about his intention to lift the COVID-19 mask mandates on the Navajo Nation once elected. This was one of his campaign promises that he made for his first 100 days. He’s kept that promise.

On Friday, Nygren signed an order that lifted the last of the COVID-19 restrictions that mandated masks be worn in schools, healthcare facilities and assisted-living homes.

“It’s an exciting time because it just shows that as president, I believe in our people at the local level, as well as really trying to empower them,” Nygren told ICT.

This decision was not made hastily. Since taking office the Nygren administration has been getting feedback from these facilities and institutions on what they wanted when it came to the Navajo Nation health mandates. According to Nygren, they wanted to have autonomy over their own policy and procedures.

“The schools, majority of them, wanted to lift it because it’s so hard to require the students to wear them in class, to go to school, all the write-ups, and it was just really tough on the administrators,” Nygren said. “But as far as assisted-living facilities, that’s up to them. I know they run their own facilities. Health care facilities, that’s up to them.”

In January, Nygren lifted the general public indoor mask mandate with the exception of health care facilities, assisted living facilities, and schools.

Beginning in the spring of 2020, the Navajo Nation quickly sent workers home, shuttered offices and non-essential businesses, mandated masks, closed its borders to visitors, and enacted curfews. This was in an attempt to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The nation became a hotspot for coronavirus cases and deaths over the course of the pandemic.

Approximately 170,000 people who live on the Navajo Nation, according to the U.S. Census. The Navajo Department of Health reported nearly 84,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of May 5, 2023. The nation also reported 2,117 deaths.

The pandemic worldwide has claimed nearly 7 million lives in the last three years, according to the World Health Organization.

On Friday, the World Health Organization determined that the COVID-19 pandemic was no longer a global health emergency, saying the virus has been on a downward trend for the last year. The United States is set to let its health emergency order end on May 11.

“I think I’d be so hesitant if the Navajo Nation was the first organization to reopen,” Nygren said. “I’d be very hesitant but a lot of entities around the Navajo Nation have been reopened, some of them, over a year now, some of them into the months. We’re just playing catch up at the moment.”

Cabinet member Rhonda Tuni, and head of the Navajo Department of Health, supports the removal of the final mask mandates on the nation.

“We are very excited to finally lift the mask mandate all across the Navajo Nation,” Tuni said. “Continue to practice the guidelines, hand sanitizing, and anything else that you’ve learned throughout these last three years.”

As the school year winds down, the mask mandate for next year has been a topic of discussion for the public schools on the nation.

“We’re very thankful to President Nygren and his staff to not necessarily lifting the mask mandate but just making it an option for our families,” said Shannon Goodsell, superintendent of Window Rock Unified School District. “This provides an opportunity for all of our students, all of our moms across the Navajo Nation to make the best decision for their families in order to keep their children safe while they’re in our schools. On behalf of the public schools across the Navajo Nation, we would like to say thank you.”

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Hopi Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni and White Mountain Apache Tribe are the handful of tribes that still have a mask mandate, according to the Arizona Department of Education.

Earlier this year, Nygren received backlash about his decision to lift the general mask mandate.

The response on Nygren’s Facebook live announcing the lift is mixed, some people agree, but many do not.

“I’m not here to please everybody, but I’m here to make decisions as president,” Nygren said. “I think that’s very important. You got to make decisions and move on.”

Dateline:

WINDOW ROCK, Arizona